


Last chance, Ash

by lonesomewriter



Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: M/M, android!Eiji, detroit: become human au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-06-09 13:57:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19477315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lonesomewriter/pseuds/lonesomewriter
Summary: The objective of the break-in was more to annoy Dino than to actually steal anything in particular. Ash knew how important the newest project was to the old man, which had made choosing the target of his attack that much easier. And if he was being completely honest, Ash was curious. What made the new android model so precious?Detroit: Become Human AU featuring android!Eiji





	Last chance, Ash

**Author's Note:**

> This is my piece for the Banana Fish Reverse Big Bang!!! I was paired with the most gorgeous maiisbuns, you can go find their tumblr [here](https://maiisbuns.tumblr.com/) ^^

A clank echoed in the empty storage room, and Ash Lynx was a second away from strangling Shorter Wong. They were currently in the middle of infiltrating into a high-class android warehouse, and for some reason the taller of the two couldn’t spare one of his precious brain cells into concentrating on the task at hand. Which happened to contain  _ quietly _ finding the office, and  _ quietly  _ stealing the blueprints Golzine had mentioned weeks ago.

Ash glared daggers at Shorter, who didn’t even have the decency to look apologetic as he picked the lock that had caused the noise up from the floor. He only flashed Ash a wide grin, motioning for him to follow through the now open door. “I think it’s this way…”

Ash bit back the snarky retort, and took a deep breath before following after his friend. He would have plenty of time to make him pay after the mission was successfully completed, but the urge to smack him was nearly overpowering. If he’d known Shorter was going to be like this, he would’ve chosen another day for the operation.

They moved swiftly across the empty corridor, sneaking along the walls as they made their way deeper into the warehouse. Without the help of the moonlight, it would’ve been impossible to see to the end of the corridor, but the two of them didn’t seem worried in the slightest. Ash had made Shorter memorize the layout of the building perfectly before the start of the mission, saying that he wouldn’t accept his help if he couldn’t make his way inside with a blindfold on.

They passed a pair of glass doors, and Ash saw a glimpse of androids in rows inside, stretching all the way to the end of the room. His heartbeat picked up, but he had to force himself to look ahead so that he wouldn’t fall behind. 

The objective of the break-in was more to annoy Dino than to actually steal anything in particular. Ash knew how important the newest project was to the old man, which had made choosing the target of his attack that much easier. And if he was being completely honest, Ash was curious. What made the new android model so precious?

“This is it.” Shorter stopped in front of a thick, plain door, his sharp voice pulling Ash back from his thoughts. 

He took a quick look at the door before nodding.“You got five minutes. I’ll go shut down the surveillance cameras, you handle the door.”

Without waiting for an answer, Ash slipped past his friend, making his way down the corridor. Soon enough he reached the control center, and just as anticipated, it was empty. Scoffing at Dino’s moronic trust for entirely machine controlled technology, Ash made his way inside the room.

Ignoring the beeping and flashing lights of the different buttons on the control panels, Ash went straight to the monitors. He didn’t bother wasting any time at all, but quickly typed the code that would shut the camera’s down on the keyboard. After making sure he had done it correctly, he left the room without a second glance back.

The curiosity bubbling inside of him only grew worse by every second, and instead of turning back to Shorter, he went right, quickening his steps as he neared the glass doors. He knew he wouldn’t be able to finish the mission before he’d at least taken a better look at the androids stocked in here

He pushed himself through the doors and inside the huge hall. The moonlight seeped in through the windows near the ceiling, illuminating the entire room with silvery glint. Androids filled in all the floor space, with just enough space between the rows to walk through. Wherever the moonlight touched any of them, its clear skin would shimmer faintly.

Ash stared at the sight in a daze for a split second. The androids stood silently in their designated places, like mannequins in store windows. They were all wearing the same neat, ironed uniforms, the same standard black hair, and the same, relaxed look on their stainless, smooth faces. 

If it wasn’t for the flickering blue leds on their temples, there would have been no way of differentiating them from humans. But the faint glow of the circular lights reminded the onlooker of what they were facing; machines, empty imitations of the ideal human.

Staring at the satisfied smiles on the androids’ faces, Ash slowed down his steps until he almost stopped moving entirely. The sound of his footsteps still echoed faintly in the hall when he paused in front of one of the androids, his eyes hungrily absorbing every minor detail he could discern in the dim light.

With its eyes closed, it almost looked like the android was asleep and seeing the most pleasant of dreams. Its long eyelashes rested against its cheeks, casting long shadows on the clean, olive skin shimmering under the pale light. Ash found his eyes travelling down its slender neck, a pang of dread coated with admiration bursting in his chest. The jade statue in front of him was groomed to the last inch, looking more flawless than any human he had ever met. 

He stalled when his eyes dropped to the back of one of their petite hands. Everything was realistic down to the last cuticle, to the veins and knuckles slightly visible on the perfectly aligned palms. Ever so carefully, Ash placed his own hand next to the android’s, silently observing the similarities between the two.

There had been a point in Ash's life where he had thought androids were superior to humans in every imaginable way. It had taken him to meet Dino and his insane projects to realise that androids were nothing but vessels humans used to achieve more creative ways of torturing and oppressing each other. And to call them superior was like admitting humans were capable of creating anything pure.

Shaking his head, Ash pushed the thought away, quickly making his way towards the centre.

He had never been too fond of androids. Ever since he could remember, the humanoids had been around, but just like humans, they continued to disappoint him. He knew rationally that they were only machines, but that was what made him so annoyed at them. How perfect humans they were, made by humans to serve humans. They had no conscience, not thoughts, no soul. If Ash only knew pity, he would’ve felt it towards these plastic slaves forced to march to humans drum.

Sensing movement to his right, Ash came to a halt. He squatted on the floor, turning his body towards it, but saw nothing. Frowning, he started sneaking closer, keeping his eyes fixated on the android he was certain had just moved its hand an inch.

Slowly, he rose to stand up, coming face to face with a machine. His eyes widened, and for a second, he forgot to breathe.

The android was an eastern model, probably Japanese. Ash had seen the Lee family prototype before, but this brand seemed to be for public consumers instead of private collectors . But what made Ash stop wasn’t the type of the model. No, what made his breath hitch in his throat was the details in his design. Ash had seen dozens of high-tech androids, hell, he’d even  _ built _ them himself, but yet somehow this particular model was more authentic, more astounding than anything he’d ever seen before.

It had a gentle smile on its face, an unruly, black mop of a hair framing its freckled face. The currently closed eyes had long, dark lashes, and Ash found himself lost in staring at the details of its skin texture.

It was so beautifully done, it could easily be mistaken for a human. Ash hadn’t even noticed at which point he had crept closer, and was startled when the tips of his fingers brushed over the android’s sleek face.

Eyes widening, he found himself unable to pull his hand back. The skin—no, the synthetic fluid—was unbelievably soft to the touch. A rosy color painted the plump cheeks, and Ash realised he was able to count the freckles on the light skin.

The android looked very young, albeit being the size of an adult. If Ash had had to guess it’s age, he’d say sixteen at most. His fingers began trembling as a terrifying, inexplicable wave of motherly instinct ignited in his heart, something he’d only ever felt towards Skipper and the other younger boys in his gang. 

What was he thinking? The thing in front of him was only a piece of plastic. A slave, a heartless, emotionless machine. No matter if it was designed to look like an innocent child, it still did not make it human. The thing in front of him was only a piece of plastic. A slave, a heartless, emotionless machine.

Ash tore his eyes away, resentment filling his heart. He shouldn’t feel sympathy for something that couldn’t even feel. It wasn’t right.

A clank was heard from the distance, and Ash cursed his friend for the second time that night. Reluctantly, he tore his eyes off the android, and rushed back to Shorter.

The door that had been locked previously was now open, and Ash didn’t hesitate to let himself inside.

The room was moderately large, with bookshelves on the left wall and a large, wooden table in the middle. There was a huge painting of an ugly cat, which colours matched the rug covering the parquet floor. Ash ignored them all, but went straight to his friends side, who was currently opening the drawers and looking for the blueprint.

“What took you so long?” Shorter didn’t spare a look in Ash’s direction, but continued on rummaging through the shelves. Ash saw red, and smacked the back of his head, and smiled when he heard him yowl in pain.

“What was that for!?”

“Shut up, you're being too loud.” Ash walked towards the bookshelf, scanning through the manuals with trained eyes, ignoring his friend’s cries of pain. “Next time, I’m taking Bones with me. At least he knows how to pick a lock without making a sound.”

Shorter snorted at that, massaging his scalp as he returned to look inside the drawers. “Yeah, sure you will. Might as well directly inform Golzine of your intentions. It’s not as if Bones could make it through these sort of heists…”

Ash didn’t bother answering him. Shorter was his most capable partner, but sometimes his mind could be too preoccupied, resulting in mistakes—a lot like this one _. _

“Oh fuck, there’s nothing in here!” Shorter yelled, kicking the corner of the table. Ash watched at him with frustration in his eyes before turning back towards the bookshelf, already losing any last hope he had made of their presence not being noticed in there. “Are you sure this is the right room?”

“Check behind the painting.” Ash tilted his head, and reached for one of the manuals on the shelf. It was surprisingly light when compared to its size, and even the pages seemed weirdly thin. Ash frowned, and turned it around in his hands.

“I can’t believe they’d hide it inside such an easily breakable safe,” Shorter sneered behind him, as the third lock of the day fell to the ground with a loud bang. Ash froze at the same moment, having opened the manual with widening eyes. He stared at the page for a long second before snapping his head towards Shorter, who was reaching inside the safe that had been revealed behind the painting.

He was about to open his mouth to warn his friend when the screeching alarm went off. Red light filled the room, and cold sweat broke through Ash’s body.

“Shit!”

With swift movements, Ash’s hand shot to his pocket and fished out his gun, loading it in a split second before he lunged forward. In two quick steps, he reached the doorway and stuck his head out. Seeing the corridor empty, he waved for Shorter to follow him out.

They had three possible escape routes, the most convenient being through the window they had already bashed broken when they entered the building. But to reach the storage room they’d need to pass through the hall filled with androids, and Ash wasn’t going to risk their whole journey on the slim chance that all of the androids would be hibernating.

And so instead of turning to left, Ash dashed to the right and towards the end of the corridor. The screaming of the alarm was giving him a strident headache, but he blocked it all out of his mind, focusing solely on finding the opening to the old air conditioning tunnel he had seen marked on the map.

After some half a minute of running, the corridor split into three directions. Without slowing down in the slightest, Ash turned left and kept speeding forward. The echoes of their shoes hitting the floor were drowned by the shrieks of the alarm, which encouraged them to hasten their steps.

Ash kept his eyes glued to the roof while he ran, looking for the flashes of the screws on the grills shielding the ventilation tunnels as he went. The red flare of the alarm proved to be helpful as it illuminated the halls with its glow, and in short enough amount of time, he stopped abruptly, scowling when Shorter crashed into him.

“Is it this one?” The other boy was quick to ask when he noticed the irritated look on Ash’s face. He stood on his toes, grinning when he noticed one of the screws being loose. “Great! You keep an eye on anything that tries to come near us, this will only take me a moment.”

Ash leaned against the wall and closed his eyes while Shorter started to unscrew the grill with nimble hands. The floor trembled slightly beneath them, and the air was filled with anticipation. Ash kept his senses focused, doing his best to block out the head-splitting alarm as he concentrated on the low rumble just barely audible among all the noise.

He’s eyes shot open, and he fixed his gaze on the direction they had just come from.

Someone, or  _ something  _ was sprinting towards them with disturbing speed. And it would soon reach their field of view, and then they would be finished.

“Are you done?” Ash’s voice didn’t betray any emotions, but Shorter knew they were being followed simply for the reason the blond boy had asked anything in the first place. Furrowing his brows in concentration, he made extra effort to smoothly remove the last screw before yanking the grill off the ceiling and throwing it to the floor with a loud clatter.

Ash wasted no time crouching on the floor, and Shorter used the offered back to push himself up through the hole and into the tunnel. Once inside, he turned to pull Ash inside with him. He was about to cry from joy when Ash clasped his mouth shut with his hand, using the other to motion for him to shut up.

The alarm stopped shrieking as if it had been cut off with a knife, and the building went black. Ash pushed Shorter slowly deeper into the channel, careful as to not make any sound. Every drag of their limbs echoed through the metallic walls, and the stagnant air was making it hard for them to breathe.

Just when they were about to reach the first turn, they heard steps right below them. It was as if dozens of people were sprinting back and forth underneath them, crawling like ants in their hummock.

Shorter whimpered next to Ash, he’s eyes gleaming desperately for his friend to release his hand from his mouth. Once he was free from Ash’s death grip, he stretched his jaw before whispering: “If those are androids below us, we’re done for. Can’t they like sense body heat or something?”

“Then we have to be quick,” Ash stated, and crawled past Shorter with speed that would’ve rivaled the best sprinters. Shorter cursed mentally before following after him, wincing when the bottoms of his sneakers scrunched against the metallic surface.

They kept crawling soundlessly through the narrow tunnel, holding their breaths as they listened how the voices from the corridor slowly dried up. After reaching another vent, Ash motioned Shorter to wait for a moment before giving him the green flag to start screwing it open.

Careful as to not make any sound, Shorter severed the vent, and dropped himself through the hole and into the corridor. Ash followed shortly after, and silently, they sprinted towards the office room.

“For an air ventilation pipe, that one was poorly executed,” Shorter wheezed once they’d safely reached the room. “I know machines don’t breathe, but shit, that was too intense!”

“Stop the nonsense and get us out of here.” Ash walked to the window, frowning when he spotted no movement outside. Adding that to the lack of security, something felt fishy. Ash stepped back, taking the chair from the desk before throwing it at the window. The loud crash was sure to alert every android of their location, and Ash was quick to jump to the windowsill.

Turning back, he nearly groaned aloud when he saw Shorter standing in the middle of the room, frozen to the spot and refusing to move an inch.

Murderous intent weighing on every word, Ash hissed at his friend to follow. "Come on Shorter, we need to  _ hurry _ ! Stop daydreaming and get your ass in here!" 

Only the purple haired boy didn't move. He continued to stare straight through the doorway, his pupils dilated and breath stuck in his throat. Ash soon grew irritated at his friend’s antics, and hopped down to go smack some sense into him.

“What in the seven -”

The rest of the words died in his throat when his eyes fixed on the figure standing in the doorway.

It was the Japanese android from the hall, pointing a gun at Shorter.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed it ^^


End file.
